Return of an ACe
'Return of an ACe '''is the 21st episode of ''Rails of Highland Valley. Plot It had been nearly two years since Kerry was involved in a derailment, and the engines were worried for him since. Presently, he is put back into service after a long time of inactivity. One morning, Josiah tells the others that today is the day Kerry comes back to Highland Valley. He also warns them to contain their excitement, as he's most likely still affected. His warning proves to be correct when Kerry arrives, as he goes straight to the shed without a word. Later, Amber is the first engine to work with Kerry after his return. Initially, she was going to trail, but Kerry asks Mr. Edwards to have Amber lead, much to their surprise. Kerry doesn't even feel like talking to Amber on the trip. When Amber and Kerry return, the engines try to talk to Kerry and make him feel better, but Kerry wants nothing more than to be left alone. Nicholas even talks about it with Timothy, Benjamin, and Matthew. Nicholas suddenly has an idea: To show Kerry the beautiful sights of Highland Valley. But again, this idea backfires. Later that day, Ryusei and Nicholas are at Conway Yard. Kerry and J.P. are there as well. Everything seems to go normal until Kerry realizes that there are coal hoppers on his train. As they remind him of his 2017 derailment, he snaps at Mr. Long, asserting that he will never pull any coal again. The locomotives in the yard are shocked, but Zane and Kai offer to switch jobs with Kerry, as their train doesn't have any coal hoppers. Mr. Long agrees. As J.P. and Kerry are taking 14G, they pass by Lily. Kerry nervously warns Lily to take care, as she's heading the same direction Kerry was heading when he crashed. J.P. is still puzzled. Two days later, Nicholas is switching at the yard on the top of the hill. When he returns to the main yard, he is surprised to see his friends waiting for him. They all discuss how they are worried about Kerry, seeing the way he's acting. Lilim eventually confides that the only way to rid Kerry of his supposedly fear of coal, they must have him pull a coal train as his next assignment. Ryusei then appoints Nicholas as their deputation to tell Mr. Edwards the plan. Little do they know, that Kerry had been watching them the whole time. Later, Kerry tells Teduka why he's not been feeling so good lately. Teduka talks with him about how he just got unlucky and how coal isn't harmful to carry, as well as how one accident shouldn't bring him down. He then leaves, but asks Kerry to remember what he said. Kerry then has a few flashbacks from his service life. That evening, Mr. Edwards assigns Kerry to take a coal train to Norfolk, VA. Kerry nervously sets off for work. He is still nervous when he meets Brandon, but becomes brave and decides to face his fear if he wants to end it. With that said, he sets out for Norfolk once he is all set. From there, he has an easy trip all the way down. However, he must make it back with no trouble. On his way home, he tries very carefully to make it in one piece. After he returns to Highland Valley, he realizes that he is no longer worried about coal, and more importantly, he's happy to be back. Just then, Colton pulls in, surprised to see Kerry (he hasn't met Kerry yet, as even though he was built two months before Kerry's accident, they never worked together, and Kerry's accident prevented them from meeting). Kerry realizes he has a lot to catch up on. Two months later, UP 4014 is seen on one of its first trips since its restoration. Characters * Kerry * Nicholas * Will * Lily * Shawn * Josiah * Jordan * Lilim * Mr. Edwards * J.P. * Kara * Amber * Benjamin * Timothy * Ryusei * Mr. Long * Zane * Marie * Michael * Ely * Teduka * Brandon * Dave * Larry * Tannen * Trevor * NS engineer (not shown) * Chyoko (does not speak) * Matthew (does not speak) * Kai (does not speak) * Adam (does not speak) * Kaleb (cameo) * Evelyn and Raymond (cameo) * Ty (cameo) * Arthur (cameo) * Margaret (cameo) * Justin (Amtrak) (cameo) * Heather (cameo) * Dakota (cameo) * John (cameo) * Nicholas (W&LE) (cameo) * Anette (cameo) * Warrior (cameo) * Jose (cameo) * Waidy (cameo) * Connor (cameo) * Milky Rose (cameo) * Kevin (cameo) * Robbie (cameo) * Yulogo (cameo) * Justin (cameo) * Dora (cameo) * Boots (cameo) * Kyle (cameo) * Mater (cameo) * Whitman (cameo) * Bert (cameo) * Steve (cameo) * Lexi (cameo) * Daniel (cameo) * Top Hat (cameo) * Theseus (cameo) * Liam (cameo) * Cure Dream (cameo) * Chick (cameo) * Bowser (cameo) * Chuck (as a SOU unit; cameo) * Cure Lemonade (cameo) * Barry (mentioned) * Zomboss (cameo) Locations * Highland Valley * Mattawanna * Altoona * Tidewater * Industrial Wasteland * Pittsburgh * NS Pittsburgh Line * NS Hagerstown District * NS Norfolk District * Conrail NJT * Toronto Rail Lands * NS Lake Division District * Springfield Industrial * CSX Pittsburgh Subdivision * NS Chicago Line * CSX A Line * Five Guys (mentioned) Trivia * This episode marks the first of a few things: ** Kerry's first appearance since Rivalry on the Railroad. In addition, his first time back since his derailment. ** This marks the first episode to not use text-to-speech voices at all. ** NSWGRSteam Fan3830, Michael Kubiak, and Mandy Spence join the voice cast. * This episode is similar to The Engines of Sodor Episode 30, though it wasn't the inspiration. * This episode has been sitting on the creator's hard drive for two years, as the episode was proposed in 2017. Elements of the episode were also rewritten and refilmed a few times. * Images of Kerry's accident, and him being towed to Juniata (from NS6677's NS 995 Hospital Train video) are used. * When Lily says "All for no purpose, it turns out", it is a reference to the TUGS episode "Quarantine". * Stock footage from Rivalry on the Railroad is used. In addition, several references are made to that said episode. * A reference is made to the Thomas The Tank Engine episode "The Deputation" when the engines have Nicholas tell Mr. Edwards the plan. * In an early development, Dave and his minions were going to plot to derail Kerry again so that his fear will linger. This was later cut to focus on Kerry more. * Brandon references his proposed Tracks of Kentucky series. * UP 4014's consist on the end scene is based on one of its first test runs in real life, with SD70AH #8937 assisting. * Stock footage from some cancelled and non-canon media and an unused draft intro is used on the end credits, as well as stock footage from a few Trainz comedies. * This will be the last episode where Lilim and Michael have their 4271 and 4270 numbers, respectively. Goofs * Some facial expressions clip over the locomotive handrails. * When Amber is on the turntable, the turntable appears to be moving faster than she is. * Margaret and Top Hat are missing their AC units. * In the flashback of Kerry passing a station, a woman appears to be sitting down with no bench. * Some shots appear to be pixelated. * NSWGRSteam Fan 3830 is credited as his previous username in the intro. * Timothy pronounces Ely's name wrong. Episode Category:Episodes Category:Season 4 Category:Kerry-themed episodes